Guardian active / passive buff question.

Hopefully I word this right.... but if you have a passive buff up, and then click F1 or whatever you may have to get the active aspect of it, you wind up losing the passive aspect until it's off cooldown again. I assume this is intended behavior of them, or am I missing something?

Beautiful veins and bloodshot eyes.
"If you are not capable of cruelty, you are absolutely a victim to anyone who is" - J. Peterson

Hopefully I word this right.... but if you have a passive buff up, and then click F1 or whatever you may have to get the active aspect of it, you wind up losing the passive aspect until it's off cooldown again. I assume this is intended behavior of them, or am I missing something?

Correct. It's to basically say "Is it worth giving up the little thing I get consistently for the I need this right now effect"

It's almost never worth it to use the active sadly, unless you are in a large group of people which will greatly benefit from the active buff (RvR, perhaps events with many people).

The active burn is 7 seconds instead of 1. Apply that to 5 people (some of which may be condition geared) and you have a pretty sizable increase even in dungeons.

The active block is an ability for your entire party to soak one hit at zero damage. Even if you're using it on yourself, it's because a) the passive's down, and b) You're low on Endurance and can't afford to dodge.

I'd hardly say that either of them would be "almost never worth it". In 5+, they're almost always worth pushing, just a matter of finding the right time to do so.